Baby!

Jen's Baby Update: Week 19

Sunday, November 24th

Cool Web Site:
http://health.discovery.com/minisites/pregnancy/2nd_trimester/tools/fetaldev_tool.html

Reminder: We'll be doing the 20 week ultrasound on Friday, and will hopefully find out that sex of our baby at that point! See the end of this email for our current name possibilities. I'll send out a quick message that day so everyone can know as soon as possible... I don't want to keep you in suspense any longer than necessary.

I still don't have any feeling for whether it is a boy or a girl. Lots of people on the misc.kids.pregnancy Usenet newsgroup claim that they dreamed about their child before he/she was born, and that's how they knew the sex. I did have a dream in which we were at our ultrasound, and the doctor said "It's a boy! No, it's a girl!" So,
that doesn't tell me much. Others just said that they 'knew'. Some admitted that they ended up being wrong.

Update: I did have a dream on Friday night that our baby was a boy. He was here, and I woke up feeling like I was missing something because he wasn't around!

We're just excited about having a baby! Either boy or girl would be cool with us! Logically, I suspect that it will probably be a boy, simply because Travis's family is all boys. My mom's family, though, had ALL girls. Not just her sisters, but also all of her many cousins. That's pretty amazing. Technically, we all know that the sperm determines the sex, but the environment of the uterus also plays a part in determining which sperm makes it to the egg.

Did you know that there are techniques for increasing your chance of having a child of the gender that you want? Some doctor guy, Shettles, claims that his techniques put your odds at 70%-30%, instead of the usual 53%-47% (there are slightly more girls naturally). Of course, other people say that his techniques actually select for the opposite gender. So, as with many things in pregnancy, no one really knows.

Maybe we'll give it a try with the next baby (depending on what this one is - variety could be fun). It really is the best kind of experiment, because either outcome is equally good!

Symptoms

Insomnia

I've been hit by the worst kind of insomnia. I wake up in the middle of the night (usually between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning) and can't get back to sleep. So, even if I CAN get to sleep at a reasonable hour (which I never do), that's no guarantee that I'll stay asleep.

I'm not supposed to sleep on my back, but lately I've had such problems sleeping that I've just decided to sleep however I can. It isn't dangerous for the baby, just can cause some problems for me because the baby's weight can cut off the majority of the blood flow to my lower body. Who needs that, anyway?

Skin

I'm still very itchy... and still breaking out, which is awful. Where's the glow? With the winter weather finally here, my face is really dry so I have to use lots of lotion to keep it from being red and chapped. I've got a cold now, too, which leaves my nose even redder.

I often wake up because I'm so itchy. I've taken to keeping our back scrubbing brush next to the bed so I can alleviate the itches on my back so I can sleep.

Belly Button

Travis keeps sticking his finger in my belly button. He's never done that before, so I asked him why. He said that it is because it is so much bigger now that it is like a black hole, sucking his fingers in. Crazy. It _is_ larger, wider really, than ever before.

I'm getting large enough that I can feel a difference when I bend over. It kind of feels like I'm pushing my organs around, which I probably am. Strange (and not very comfortable)!

I'm think I'm starting to look pregnant, rather than just heavier than usual. My belly is definitely getting a distinct shape to it. After measuring my waist (see above), I am not surprised that my pants don't fit anymore. Lucky for me that low-rise pants have been cool for a while, so at least they ride under the bulge. I can still get away with a few pairs (with the ponytail holder trick), but soon I'll have to loan them to Delia... though she's probably too slender for them to fit her, anyway.

I finally found some comfortable sports bras to sleep in. The ones I usually use for Karate don't fit anymore, and I really needed something to sleep in. Much more comfortable now, though still unable to sleep!

Does anyone local want to go shopping for maternity clothes with me? Or go with me to register for baby gifts? I won't have time until after the class is over, technically December 11th, though if I grade the final quickly (unlikely but possible), I could be done with it on Friday, December 6th.

Names

Travis and I have had a girl name that we like since long before we decided that we were ready to have kids. We didn't want to tell anyone because if we wanted it to be a surprise if we decided to use it, and if we decided _NOT_ to use it, we didn't want anyone to be disappointed. Besides, if we had told all of you that we had a girl name picked out (even if we didn't tell you what it was), would you have been so eager to suggest names?

Well, clever grandmother that she is, Sheryl figured it out (she didn't even know we had a secret), so the cat's out of the bag!

The name that we thought of two years ago is 'Sherilyn'. It combines both of our mother's names (Sheryl and Lynn), it is pretty, it is a real name (so she wouldn't have to explain it all the time) but still uncommon enough that there wouldn't be three in every class she takes, and it sounds good with Doom. The only trouble is finding a nickname for it... we're both leaning toward 'Rill' or 'Rilla' so that there would be no favoritism toward either grandmother!

My other favorite girl name is 'Cassandra', but I think that it is too common these days. I've always liked it, though I don't think that Travis does.

For the record, we also have a boy name that we really like that we also hadn't posted or shared with anyone yet. It isn't Ronniejohn or Johnronnie or anything like that... We couldn't find a way to combine our father's names that didn't sound silly!

Anyway, our current boy name idea is 'Dorian'. Again, it is a real name, though very unusual in this day and age. We like the potential nickname 'Dor'. It has a definite association with Dorian Grey (White + Doom = Grey), who wasn't the most well-balanced character in fiction, but does give it a neat reference to literature. It means
'from the sea'. That might be appropriate if I end up having a water birth!

Travis just told me that his brother Troy suggested 'Dorian', but for a girl! Why are those Dooms so good at guessing our secret name choices?

Another boy name we like, of the common variety, is Alexander. Again, we probably won't use it because it is common, but we like it because we could use the cool nickname 'Xander'!

Remember, those are all just possibilities... we have not committed to anything yet, so don't be too excited or disappointed about our potential name choices! Knowing me and my ability to make decisions,
the baby probably won't have a name until several days after he/she is born!

Opinions on these options are welcome... it may be your last chance to sway our decision!

Other Name Suggestions:

Girl:
Genevieve - Ann
Audrey - Ann

Boy:
Aidan - Ann
Tigan - Sheryl
Tagar - Sheryl
Xaiver - Sheryl

Miscellanous

Teaching

My last class is Thursday, and I'll be talking about the differences between the Motorola and Intel assembly languages. My students requested that I talk about it, which I think was very reasonable, and I'm glad that I'll get a little more applicable information out of this class.

You'll hopefully be hearing from me on Friday with an announcement of the sex of the child! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!